THE Wall Street Journal journalists, who broke news of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) troubles in 2015, are releasing a book on Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jhow and the intrigue surrounding Malaysia’s largest financial scandal. 

“Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World”, authored by Pulitzer-finalists Bradley Hope and Tom Wright, will be released on September 18.

Publisher Hachette Books, describes it as “an epic true-tale of hubris and greed on how a young social climber pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history – right under the nose of the global financial industry – exposing the shocking secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics”.

The publisher added Billion Dollar Whale “will become a classic, harrowing parable about the financial world in the twenty-first century”.

In gambling terms, a whale refers to a high roller who wagers large amounts of money.

The book, which can be pre-ordered from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, traces the global financial crisis in 2009 when an “unlikely Wharton grad was setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude”. 

Low, better known as Jho Low, met Riza Aziz, stepson of Prime Minister Najib Razak, at Harrow School in London before enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School.

Although never holding an official position in 1MDB, Low is at the centre of the scandal, accused by investigators in six countries to be a beneficiary of a series of shady and illicit deals with business leaders, influential figures and officials from Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.

Wright initially wrote of trouble at Malaysia’s state investment fund before breaking a story in July 2, 2015, that US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) linked to 1MDB was transacted to the personal account of Prime Minister Najib Razak in March 2013, prior to the general elections.

Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing and has claimed the money was a gift from an unnamed Saudi prince. Najib was cleared by the attorney-general in January 2016.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has alleged from 2009 to 2015, over US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, including Low. 

A string of civil suits by DoJ sought to seize more than US$1 billion in real estate and other assets allegedly bought with stolen funds. 

Last week, the RM1 billion luxury yacht, The Equanimity, owned by Low, was seized in a joint effort by FBI and Indonesian authorities.

The soon-to-be released book was also mentioned by banker Alex Turnbull, son of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, yesterday.

Turnbull told The Australian yesterday he was sidelined from his executive position at Goldman Sachs after acting as a whistle-blower on allegedly shady deals involving billions between the global investment bank and 1MDB.

In a follow up, The Sydney Morning Herald said Turnbull declined to comment on the article by The Australian, maintaining he had been misquoted.

SMH noted comments similar to those in The Australian had appeared earlier this month – from a user by the name of Alex Turnbull – on a blog, realpolitikasia.

“I called out the insane pricing and bizarre structure at (Goldman Sachs) when the deal was done and got yelled at by compliance for casting doubt on the integrity of PFI, the group that did the deal,” a user claiming to be Alex Turnbull wrote.

“As a result I was ‘b-tracked’ and resigned. This will all come out in a book in September by Tom Wright at the WSJ,” he said. – March 9, 2018.